Gardening 2021

[VelvetUnderpants]

So what are CC forum members growing this year, be it home gardeners, allotment holders or farmers.

I have fourteen Chilli plants ready to be potted on and to be re housed into the greenhouse on the allotment.

They are not much to look at the moment but I am looking forward to a Capsicum kicking come mid summer.

I have three varieties this one is 'Ring of Fire, it has medium heat and good for curries etc.

I have grown this from seeds given to me from Tibetan friend of mine. I grew it last year and all I know is it a red Habanero type chilli. It's unbelievably hot. I have decided to call it Tibetan Terror.

This baby is Orange Habanero, I have never grown this one before and it was very slow to germinate. It's meant to be heavy cropping and a heat of 250,000 to 350,000 Scoville Heat Units.

My other passion is Dahlias but they are only just waking up.

 

[fossyant]

Slow off the block this year as we've moved the greenhouse. Hopefully I'll have the replacement glass soon. MrsF started some tomatoes off from left over seeds when we'd sliced some plum tomatoes just to see if they would grow. They did.

We've got a third of the flags removed from the greenhouse (we used to grow in bags and tubs) but this third has been filled with loads of compost - it smells strongly of manure so should be good for growing. Next job is to plumb in the waterbut to an automatic watering system. Leaky pipes and sprinklers are about £20 from Amazon, pond pump £15, then outdoor socket/plug box and RCD from Screwfix for £16. I've got a spare smart socket, so will swap out the socket from the outdoor plug box.

 

[VelvetUnderpants]

I have just taken on another new plot, which has not been cultivated for the last year, it's got a mild infestation of Twitch (couch grass) but nothing to overwhelming.

I fully intended to get loads done this afternoon, but Irish Mick, one side of me who is 83 and has the best plot on the site and Mervyn the other side of me put paid to that. Mick got out the tins of Guinness and Mervyn was cooking up a storm on his gas stove in the shed, Jamaican chicken curry and rice.

Absolutely stuffed and rather the worse for wear. I had to push the bike home.

I love my allotment.

 

[Justified_Sinner]

I had amazing success with Ukranian purple tomatoes last year and am growing them again this year from seed that I saved from them. Loads of plants. I'm also trying out growing tiger nuts, which have sprouted - these are sold mainly as bait for carp fishing but they are edible by humans, too (although I think that they are rotted for fishing). Apart from that it's the usual beetroot, carrots, kale and the like.
I grew dahlias myself for the first time last year after learning that the Aztecs ate them. The leaves are delicious in salads - slightly nutty and mild. I didn't try the tubers as I wanted them to build up (grew them from seed) but will try them this year.

 

[VelvetUnderpants]

I had amazing success with Ukranian purple tomatoes last year and am growing them again this year from seed that I saved from them. Loads of plants. I'm also trying out growing tiger nuts, which have sprouted - these are sold mainly as bait for carp fishing but they are edible by humans, too (although I think that they are rotted for fishing). Apart from that it's the usual beetroot, carrots, kale and the like.
I grew dahlias myself for the first time last year after learning that the Aztecs ate them. The leaves are delicious in salads - slightly nutty and mild. I didn't try the tubers as I wanted them to build up (grew them from seed) but will try them this year.

You learn something different every day. I never knew Dahlia leaves are edible. Nasturtiums I use in salads. I buy a tiger nut Liqueur every Christmas, Besos de Oro, its just like Baileys but no dairy which does not agree with me.

Ukranian purple tomatoes sound interesting, I guess they are suited to indifferent shortish summers. Good for the UK

I tend to grow gardeners Delight, Sun Gold, my favourite, and Shirley which has good disease resistance.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Nothing I hate gardening, I would also ask that before you consider mowing your lawn in the morning, how about having consideration for your neighbours who might be working nightshift.

 

[Justified_Sinner]

You learn something different every day. I never knew Dahlia leaves are edible. Nasturtiums I use in salads. I buy a tiger nut Liqueur every Christmas, Besos de Oro, its just like Baileys but no dairy which does not agree with me.

Ukranian purple tomatoes sound interesting, I guess they are suited to indifferent shortish summers. Good for the UK

I tend to grow gardeners Delight, Sun Gold, my favourite, and Shirley which has good disease resistance.

I'll definitely have enough tomato plants to spare a few. Once they are a bit bigger, I'll be in touch! Unfortunately, they were devastated by blight last year. They are very tough and definitely outdoor plants but I'll be putting some sort of cover over them this year.
I have never heard of Tiger Nut liqueur - that sounds amazing. I had eaten them back in the early eighties but then forgot about them until I read Mark Diacono's book "The New Kitchen Garden" - I remember them as being like really sweet peanuts.

 

[Tail End Charlie]

Broad beans are in and showing some life. Apart from those, I only grow soft fruit as the conditions aren't right. I've got my name down for an allotment, as I gave mine up when I moved a couple of years ago.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I've not done much yet, cut the grass, pruned the Budleigh, cleared last years dead growth of my perennial sunflowers and did some weeding, fortunately I didn't clear the old growth of my ferns, it went from a summer's 20º to a winters freezing mornings in about 6 days and the old growth continues to protect the new shoots.

 

[VelvetUnderpants]

Broad beans are in and showing some life. Apart from those, I only grow soft fruit as the conditions aren't right. I've got my name down for an allotment, as I gave mine up when I moved a couple of years ago.

I returned to my allotment site after a 4-year break, sadly it's a private allotment site and in the meantime had sold of over half the land for development, but what really got my goat was the builders convinced someone on the committee that the soil was contaminated, so they removed a gorgeous growing medium and replaced it with rubbish which is full of stones. The cynic in me thinks someone got a significant backhander and a golf course ended up with some cracking soil.

I am going to plant spuds this year, with tomatoes and chillis in the greenhouse. I would like to grow some broad beans but by the time I finished digging and clearing the plot it may be too late for them.

I've not done much yet, cut the grass, pruned the Budleigh, cleared last years dead growth of my perennial sunflowers and did some weeding, fortunately I didn't clear the old growth of my ferns, it went from a summer's 20 degree's to a winters freezing mornings in about 6 days and the old growth continues to protect the new shoots.

The weather is certainly changeable at the moment. I have started some of my Dahlias in pots, and placed them outside only for the temperature to plummet, I have been bringing them indoors at night to protect them from frost but even so the leaves have turned chlorotic, which is due to the cold, I kept a couple on the windowsill and the leaves greened up in a couple of days.

The one advantage is its to cold for the snails to make their yearly assault on my delphinium shoots.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

The weather is certainly changeable at the moment. I have started some of my Dahlias in pots, and placed them outside only for the temperature to plummet, I have been bringing them indoors at night to protect them from frost but even so the leaves have turned chlorotic, which is due to the cold, I kept a couple on the windowsill and the leaves greened up in a couple of days.

The one advantage is its to cold for the snails to make their yearly assault on my delphinium shoots.

I've got Dahlia tubers on order, it'll be the first time I've grown them, I've a Hebe in the back garden which is looking sorry for itself at the moment, the frost has got it, it should perk up as the weather warms up.

 

[fossyant]

Just spent three hours potting seeds.

Greenhouse now ready. Carrots, raddish, broccoli, courgette, cucumber, tomatoes, kale, marigolds, stock, busy lizzie, sunflowers, lettuce and loads more.

 

[jowwy]

Top work @fossyant ....im going direct sow this year, as i have no greenhouse at the moment

 

[fossyant]

Some more work. Popped to screwfix for two outside sockets. They run along with the armoured cable for about 4 feet, then one into the garage wall socket, and the other through some pvc pipe into the greenhouse. In the garage they are plugged into separate RCDs.

Got an electric fan heater on setting one, about 12c, to help the seeds germinate.

Set me back £50. Sockets £24, 6 x switched Extension, £12, 2x RCDs £14 and 4 plugs (some spare). Already had the cable.

 

[VelvetUnderpants]

Greenhouse now ready. Carrots, raddish, broccoli, courgette, cucumber, tomatoes, kale, marigolds, stock, busy lizzie, sunflowers, lettuce and loads more.

Crikey do you have a mega sized veg bed in your garden

Fair play, your clearly very practical, I am very envious